By The Japanese sure are lighter on foreigners who smuggle drugs into the country than Korea is:
The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday sentenced Shirley Lane, 59, a former principal at the school’s kindergarten and junior school in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, and her 62-year-old husband Thomas to one year’s imprisonment, suspended for three years.
“Even in view of the difference between people’s perceptions toward marijuana in Japan and the United States, the defendants bear a grave responsibility, but they admitted to the facts of the case and regret what they did,” Judge Toshikazu Ishii said as he handed down the ruling.
The trial for the Lanes, both of U.S. nationality, opened on Wednesday and concluded the same day. The two defendants had admitted to the charges against them. When their attorney asked Mrs. Lane in court if she understood that she had a bad influence on the school’s students, she apologized repeatedly. [Japan Probe]
You can read more at the link.
10:32 pm on December 20th, 2009 1
Too light, in my opinion.
11:16 pm on December 20th, 2009 2
Notice the apologizing? Apparently dropping a bunch of summimasens will get you pretty far in the Japanese legal system. Seen this a couple times.
11:46 pm on December 20th, 2009 3
Even a principal of a school..
Gee, and you wonder where Koreans get the ideal.
12:55 am on December 21st, 2009 4
Could be worse, they could be alcoholics.
2:30 pm on December 21st, 2009 5
LOL, "Snort, Snort".
4:43 pm on December 21st, 2009 6
They should have the right to a 5×8 cell in a pound-you-in-the-ass Federal penitentiary. They are international drug smugglers, the implications that they have contact with children is chilling.
4:51 pm on December 21st, 2009 7
Inexcusable, and their ”aging hippie” lifestyle has ruined their lives and given our nation a black eye to many in Japan. WTG hippies.
5:00 pm on December 21st, 2009 8
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_is_6_grams_in_…
1.26 teaspoons, probably enough to make two joints…Yup, they're regular Pablo Escobars.
5:21 pm on December 21st, 2009 9
So she 'smuggles' in a few grams of pot for her personal use and people here expect her to be imprisoned? Smoking a bit of grass every now and then is about as immoral as having a bottle of wine over dinner.
11:41 pm on December 21st, 2009 10
I can think of at least two things the Japanese have reason to resent Americans, and yet they don't.
12:08 am on December 22nd, 2009 11
Two things come to mind, Scott:
1. That's all nice. The problem is the Japanese seem to not be so indulgent regarding marijuana. Its their country, their rules and the rule here isn't totally insane. Its not like they were at risk of being beheaded.
2. I smoke cigarettes. A whole lot of the "it's just pot!" crowd I have met would love to throw me in jail for blazing up Marlboro Lights. Given that, I tend to have little sympathy for situations like this.
9:51 am on December 22nd, 2009 12
Drug Smuggler; 1 gram or 100. Yes she deserves hard jail time. When you go to another country you obey their laws.